Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix by 17.123 seconds over Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The win was the 67th of Hamilton’s Formula One career, his fifth this season and his sixth at the Hungaroring.
The victory allowed Hamilton to widen his lead in the championship standings over Vettel, his nearest pursuer. The Brit came into the Hungarian Grand Prix with a 17-point margin on Vettel and leaves with a 24-point advantage. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (345 points) leads Ferrari by 10 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
"We’ve definitely had ups and downs in this Championship, it’s such a rollercoaster ride – but the team has just remained strong. We’re in a great position right now, but what’s important is that we don’t drop the ball," says Hamilton.
"The last two weekends have been such a blessing with the rain, I’m so grateful. The guys have worked so hard this year, they really deserve a good result. There’s still a lot of work to do because Ferrari are still slightly ahead of us, they had the pace this weekend, especially on this circuit. Today I had them covered, but had they been on pole, we would have struggled. So we’ve got some improvements to make in our overall package to try and close the gap to them, but I’m really happy with the job everyone’s done so far, we just have to keep going. The goal is now to really pull together and become even stronger for the second half. That will be key to add to what we’ve built in this first half of the season.
"I’m excited about the summer break; I will do different stuff over these two weeks, but I will be training through the whole period of time, trying to improve my physique. Physicality-wise, I’m not struggling out there at all, but there are always areas where you can be better, and I want to make sure I come back with more energy so we can turn up the heat in the second half of the season."
Race results:
| 1. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:37:16.427 | |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Ferrari | +17.123 | |
| 3. | K. Räikkönen | Ferrari | +20.101 | |
| 4. | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | +46.419 | |
| 5. | V. Bottas | Mercedes | +1:00.000 | |
| 6. | P. Gasly | Toro Rosso | +1:13.273 | |
| 7. | K. Magnussen | Haas | +1 lap | |
| 8. | F. Alonso | McLaren | +1 lap | |
| 9. | C. Sainz Jr. | Renault | +1 lap | |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | Haas | +1 lap | |
| 11. | B. Hartley | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | |
| 12. | N. Hulkenberg | Renault | +1 lap | |
| 13. | E. Ocon | Force India | +1 lap | |
| 14. | S. Pérez | Force India | +1 lap | |
| 15. | M. Ericsson | Sauber | +2 laps | |
| 16. | S. Sirotkin | Williams | +2 laps | |
| 17. | L. Stroll | Williams | +2 laps | |
| DNF | ||||
| 18. | S. Vandoorne | McLaren | +21 laps | |
| 19. | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +65 laps | |
| 20. | C. Leclerc | Sauber | +70 laps |
Nine races remain on the 2018 Formula One schedule, with the next event coming in four weeks at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
